The Fruits of the American Dream...

As American Christians, we like to insulate ourselves from the problems that exist beyond the cushy reality we have fabricated. This seems harsh, but it’s the truth and it needs to be addressed. This obviously doesn’t apply to everyone, but comfortable Christianity has become the norm. We have been raised to believe that we all should go to college, get a good job and buy a nice home for ourselves. Meanwhile you have Christians all over the States who are waking up in the middle of their beautiful, sprawling homes and realizing that maybe the American Dream that they have chased isn’t the dream that Jesus has for His people. They have realized that even achieving the American Dream cannot fill the sense of lack they feel in their spirit. Surely there is more to life than this, they must think to themselves. I know that I do.

The truth is that this real world we try to protect ourselves from, the one that is infested with filth and decay, this is the world that Jesus came to save. This is the world we will find Him in. Those encounters that we are so desperately hungry to have with our Maker will be found in that world that extends beyond the bubbles we try to conceal ourselves in. That world is unstable and unpredictable. We will encounter dangerous situations. It will cause us to be bucked right up against life and death, light and shadows. It is in that world where we hear both the hissing of demons and the faint whisper of Angels at work. If we’re quiet, we can hear death threatening to tear down life’s door, its breath saturated with rot and ruin. We long for eternity with our King with a hopeful expectancy and try to press on towards that future while trying to keep the spindly fingers of our mortality from extinguishing our sense of peace. That world can cripple us with fear and rob us of hope, but that world does not have the final say. Jesus was victorious. We cannot forget about the empty tomb. That empty tomb is the key to our hope.